For identification, as used herein coin-operated bulk vending machine indicates the conventional crank-handle operated dispensing machines commonly found on racks in the front of large retail outlets such as grocery stores. Conventional coin-operated bulk vending machines often feature a coin receipt mechanism secured within a box-like base where coins introduced into the mechanism are discharged into the base. Thus, in order to collect coins gathered on the base floor, in the course of routine maintenance, service personnel must disassemble the machine, collect the coins from the base, and re-assemble the machine. Collecting the coins most commonly entails sweeping the floor with the hand or tipping the base causing the coins to spill out of the base.
Typically coin operated bulk vending machines include a metal or metal/plastic housing defined by a base which supports a merchandise container (globe) generally set on the base which is sealed with a locking lid. A merchandise wheel is disposed at the interface between the top opening in the base and the bottom of the merchandise container. The wheel is divided into a plurality of compartments for selecting a discrete quantity of merchandise. As the wheel is turned, each compartment rotates and communicates the merchandise from the merchandise container to a merchandise chute in the base which is ultimately dispensed upon operation of said machine. The merchandise dispensing chute communicates the discrete quantity of merchandise from the wheel compartment to a merchandise chute opening disposed in a wall of the base.
The base includes a four sided case with an aperture adapted to lockably retain a coin receiving mechanism, and the merchandise chute opening, generally incorporating a chute cover and located in the wall below the coin receiving mechanism.
The coin receiving mechanism is crank operated and operably connected to the merchandise wheel to rotate the wheel when the coinage of appropriate denomination is introduced into and discriminated by the coin receiving mechanism. Upon rotation, merchandise originally gravity fed into the merchandise wheel from the merchandise container, is rotated to the opening of the merchandise chute and falls into that passage for dispensing through the merchandise chute opening.
The entire assembly is secured together with a metal shaft threadably secured to a centrally disposed threaded lug located on the base floor passing through a centrally located feedthrough in the merchandise wheel, and to the top of the merchandise container for threadable connection top a rotatable barrel lock projecting through a lid corresponding to the container top.
In the bulk vending field, attempts have been made to provide special coin drawers and the like. One such example is found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,390,753. However, the additional costs and mechanical complexity of such devices render them undesirable in the bulk vending field where mechanical simplicity and minimum maintenance are critical. Accordingly, such devices are generally found to be impractical and not widely used.
Other coin intensive, albeit unrelated, disciplines, such as the gambling industry, provide specialized coin collection box structures. One such example is a slot machine coin box chute combined with a retractable coin drawer depicted in Stefan U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,483. The additional structural complexity and greater space requirements make such concepts generally inapplicable to bulk vending machines.
Turning specifically to the bulk vending field, typically, coin operated bulk vending machines incorporate an axial shaft lockdown mechanism. The shaft extends from the base floor to the lid, i.e., completely through the machine. Thus, the coins fall from the coin receiving mechanism to the base floor around the shaft.
It has been reported that nesting plastic liners have been used in conjunction with certain bulk vending machines in the past. In order for a liner to conform to the base, it featured a hole through which the axial shaft passed. To collect the coins collected in the liner at the base of the machine, the machine was disassembled by unlocking the barrel lock from the axial shaft, removing the merchandise container from the base and translating the coin laden liner along the entire axial shaft length. Once free of the shaft the operator dumped the coins from the liner into a coin bag or other receptacle. Thus, the presence of a liner not only did not shorten the long-practiced coin collection methodology but actually complicated coin removal.